Cecil Turtle
Cecil Turtle is an animated character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of films. Though he made only three theatrical appearances, Cecil is remarkable in that he is one of the very few characters who was able to beat Bugs Bunny, and the only one to do so three times in a row and at the rabbit's own game. Animator Tex Avery introduced Cecil in the short Tortoise Beats Hare, released on March 15, 1941. Even from the cartoon's opening titles, Avery lets on that Bugs Bunny is about to meet his match. Bugs wanders onto the screen munching his obligatory carrot and absent-mindedly begins reading the title card, grossly mispronouncing most of the credits, such as for "Avery" rather than the correct . When he finally gets to the title itself, he becomes outraged, tears apart the title card, and rushes to Cecil Turtle's house. He then bets the little, sleepy-eyed turtle ten dollars (equal to $ }} today) that he can beat him in a race. Cecil accepts Bugs' bet, and the race begins several days later. Bugs races away at top speed just before finishing the shout of, "Get on your mark, get set, go!" Cecil quickly (for him, anyway) goes to a public telephone and calls up Chester Turtle. After talking to Chester about the bet, he tells him to call "the boys" (cousins), and tell them to be ready when he comes to their position, and to "give him the works". Chester calls the relatives, all of whom look and sound like Cecil (some have deeper voices, some have higher voices), and relays the message. As Bugs runs relentlessly toward the finish line, Cecil and the other turtles take turns showing up at just the right moment to baffle the bunny. In the end, Bugs is convinced he has won, only to see Cecil (or one of his kin) across the finish demanding the money. Bugs suggests that he has been tricked, and all nine turtles approach and reply, "It's a possibility!" Voice actor Mel Blanc supplies Cecil's drowsy drawl, which is like a slowed-down version of Blanc's later characterization of Barney Rubble. Tortoise Beats Hare follows one of the many folk variants of the Aesop fable "The Tortoise and the Hare" in which the faster beast is deceived by look-alikes placed along the course.Aarne-Thompson-Uther type 275 http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0275.html More directly, it is Avery's parody of the 1935 Disney Silly Symphony, The Tortoise and the Hare. Avery left Warner Bros. before he could produce any new cartoons featuring Cecil. However, he introduced a similar character in 1943 named Droopy. Droopy would even take some of his tricks from his slow-and-steady predecessor, such as using his relatives to help him outsmart a wolf. Bob Clampett took Avery's scenario and altered it for his film Tortoise Wins by a Hare released on February 20, 1943. The title is an appropriate pun on "hair". Bugs again challenges Cecil to a race after viewing footage from their previous encounter two years earlier (which seems to depict Cecil as having won fairly instead of by cheating Bugs with his cousins). Bugs then goes to Cecil's tree home disguised as an old man (a parody of Bill Thompson's "Old Timer" character from Fibber McGee and Molly) to ask the turtle his secret. Cecil, not in the least bit fooled by the disguise remarks, "Clean livin', friend. Clean livin'...". And then reveals his streamlined shell lets him win, and produces a set of blueprints for his "air-flow chassis". The turtle ends the conversation with the comment, "Oh, and another thing... Rabbits aren't very bright, either!" just before slamming the door in the enraged bunny's face. Not getting the hint that the turtle's story is a humbug, Bugs builds the device and prepares for the race. Meanwhile, the bunny mob learns of the upcoming match-up and places all its bets on Bugs. ("In fact, we don't even think that the toitle will finish... Do we, boys?" "Duh, no, Boss, no!") The race begins, and Bugs still outpaces his reptilian rival. However, in his new get-up, the dim-witted gangsters mistake him for the turtle. Cecil reinforces this misconception by dressing in a gray rabbit suit and munching on some delicious carrots. The mobsters thus make the shelled Bugs' run a nightmare, ultimately giving the race to Cecil (in an aside to the audience, as the rabbits cheer him, Cecil remarks, "I told you rabbits aren't very bright!"). When Bugs removes the chassis and sobbingly reveals that he's the rabbit, the rabbit gangsters remark in mock-Bugsy style "Ehhh, now he tells us!" upon realizing their mistake and commit suicide by shooting themselves with a single bullet that goes through the sides of all of their apparently soft heads (The final gag is often cut when shown on basic cable television but can be found uncut on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1). Cecil and Bugs would have one final match up in Friz Freleng's cartoon, Rabbit Transit, released on May 10, 1947. The title is a play of Rapid Transit. Unlike Tortoise Wins by a Hare, this cartoon presumes that Bugs and Cecil have never met before now. While relaxing in a steam bath, Bugs reads about the original fable and, as he did reading the credits of Tortoise Beats Hare, becomes incensed at the idea of a turtle outrunning a rabbit. Cecil, also in the steam bath, claims that he could outrun Bugs, prompting Bugs to challenge him to a race (again, as in Tortoise Beats Hare, although at least here Bugs receives some provocation). This time, Bugs and Cecil agree to no cheating. Cecil, however, quickly reveals that his shell is now rocket propelled, allowing him to go a surprising combination between fast and slow. Bugs does his best to steal, dismantle, and destroy the device, but all to little effect. In the end, however, Bugs does manage to top the turtle and crosses the finish line first. Nevertheless, it is Cecil who has the last laugh when he rooks the rabbit into confessing to "doing 100 easy"—in a 30-miles-per-hour zone. Bugs is taken away by two police officers to enjoy his victory behind bars. Cecil closes out the cartoon by saying Bugs' famous line, "Ain't I a...um...stinker?" Iris-out. The Warners directors retired Cecil after his third showdown with Bugs. Nevertheless, Cecil made occasional cameos in later projects. His only notable Looney Tunes short cameo came in 1954's Devil May Hare, which was directed by Robert McKimson, Sr. and pitted Bugs against the Tasmanian Devil (who made his debut here). Cecil later made a cameo in an episode of The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, as well as a brief appearance in the 1996 film Space Jam. He also appeared in the 2003 DVD Looney Tunes: Reality Check, his voice now provided by Joe Alaskey. In addition, he appears some issues of the Looney Tunes comic book. More recently, Cecil appeared in The Looney Tunes Show, voiced by Jim Rash. Unlike in the original shorts, Cecil is noticeably more antagonistic, actively seeking to make things difficult for other people; as a result, this actually leads to him getting karmic comeuppances in the two episodes he appears in. In his first appearance, "Customer Service", he is seen as a customer service representative at the Trans-Visitron cable company. He ends up taking off the cable service from Bugs Bunny (or "Mr. Buney", as Cecil addresses him) and ends up angering him more when he demands that the cable company restores his cable. This leads Bugs Bunny to quote "of course you realize, this means war." When Cecil goes out to work, Daffy tells him to be back by 2:30 or he'll be fired. Cecil finds Bugs Bunny disguising as a female worker at Coffee Hut and Bugs ends up performing a comeuppance on Cecil as he tries to get back to work. Bugs even disguises himself as an elevator operator to delay Cecil. When Cecil makes it to his floor, Bugs Bunny disguises himself in a full costume disguised as a future being and tells him that he must restore Bugs Bunny's cable. After the ruse is done and Daffy Duck fires him, Bugs Bunny thanks Cecil Turtle for restoring cable service to him. This is the first time that Bugs is able to win against Cecil. Cecil Turtle makes a cameo in "A Christmas Carol" during the "Christmas Rules" song where he was punched by Tina Russo during her part of the song which states that "New Year's was an awful scene." In "The Shell Game," Bugs and Daffy accidentally back into Cecil where they find that his shell has cracks in it and he knows someone who can fix turtle shells. Cecil later calls up Bugs and tells him that the crack is worse while stating that he will need $2,000 to see how much can be dealt about the shells. Bugs goes to 4213 Helms Way to drop of the check for Cecil. Bugs arrives at Cecil's apartment and gives him the check. When Bugs asks Cecil what else he can do for him, Cecil asks Bugs to do his groceries. Unbeknownst to Bugs, Cecil is taking advantage of him. When Bugs returns with the groceries, Cecil is on the phone with his shell guy stating that he will need a new shell at the cost of $53,000.00. Bugs starts to get suspicious of Cecil and uses the internet to find that Cecil had been struck by cars many times. Porky comes in and tells Bugs about his encounter with Cecil. Bugs and Porky decide to visit Cecil to shut down Cecil's shell game. Cecil then holds them at gunpoint to keep them from turning the fake shell over to the police. Bugs tricks Cecil into sitting in Daffy's old recliner and is slammed into the wall enough to crack his shell for real. Gallery Cecil060.jpg|Cecil in Rabbit Transit CECIL.png 200px-Cecil.png|Cecil as seen in The Looney Tunes Show Category:Characters Category:Characters from animated shorts Category:Looney Tunes characters Category:Characters who break the fourth wall Category:Turtles